Three Reasons To Do an Internet Detox

The important thing is to control technology since it becomes abusive when it starts controlling us. Thus, if email overload is causing concern, it is time to implement some version of detox. There is life beyond the Internet….

On January 1, 2017, I made a New Year’s resolution to make my Sundays Internet free. This involved not going online Sundays for any reason, whether it be for email, updates, or inquiries. I did this because I realized just how much leisure time I was wasting on the Internet. I wanted to devote Sunday to its original purpose as a day of worship, rest, and culture.

Since then, I have kept my resolution, surprisingly with little effort. Sunday is the easiest of days for most people to abstain from the Internet since many do not work. Thus, by staying away from my office computer and quashing any idea of getting a smartphone, my Sundays have been delightfully prayerful and restful.

Blissful Ignorance on Sunday

That is not to say there were not times when I was tempted to go online. Indeed, there were even some “emergencies,” in which it would have been very helpful to check information on flights, appointments, or weather. However, I simply decided to skip going online, and everything worked out fine. It was just like times before the Internet when we survived in blissful ignorance of so many urgent things.

The successful transition to Internet-free Sunday got me thinking about doing something more. This desire got me looking for the next step in controlling Internet use. Hopefully, this move will allow me to find a way to use the Internet without the frenetic intemperance of constantly checking for mail and notifications. It will enable me to make better use of the time when I must be on the Internet. It was not easy to find a strategy for this next step.

A Wakeup Email

Ironically, a suggestion about how to take this next step came from an email. It was not even a personal email but one of those “junk” emails from an online newsletter that one typically deletes. It was written by a lady who had become exasperated by the email and notifications that were taking so much time from her day.

It was as if she was reading my mind. She described my focusing problem because of Internet distractions. Her wake-up call to e-action was full of reasons that led me to take up the challenge of cutting down seriously.

Three More Good Reasons

There were three main reasons why she took measures that I found compelling.

(1) The email rush: She noted that email can become an addiction like drugs or video games. Every time notifications sound, we get little shots of dopamine in the pre-frontal cortex that stimulate us and ask us for more.

(2) Task switching: She mentioned how most people check their email almost without realizing it. This happens at several times every hour if not much more. Checking email and other notifications seem like an innocent break from work, but are actually great interruptions.

At the University of California-Irvine, Professor Gloria Mark calls this interruptive process “task switching.” She found that it takes an average of twenty-three minutes and fifteen seconds to get back up to speed after an innocent e-interruption.

(3) Open loops: When one checks inboxes, it also creates open loops in the mind which demand resolution. These prevent the person from focusing on anything until it is in some way forgotten, postponed, or answered.

All these things cloud the mind and prevent the person from efficiently reaching goals.

The Detox Solution

Her solution was what she called an email or notification detox. It does not entail getting rid of email since that is impossible given today’s work obligations. It does call for carving out a few hours each day, preferably in the morning, that are free of checking email or any other notifications. It may involve taking off tempting apps from the devices we use that facilitate these distractions.

She takes four morning hours that she calls power hours. During this time, she concentrates on the most important tasks of the day without the twenty-three minute, fifteen second re-concentrating periods. With all the most urgent matters out of the way, she then checks her email around lunchtime.

Of course, the intensity and practicality of the detox depend on the person and circumstances. However, most people can identify with the exasperation of email overload and realize the need to take measures. We should not be discouraged by the task at hand.

The important thing is to break the consensus that says such self-control cannot be done. We need to look around and realize that we are not alone in sensing the problem. There are plenty of other people who are implementing detox programs of their own. We need to break the myth that such self-control cannot be achieved.

My first goal will not be overambitious. I will seek to carve out one two-power-hour session per day when I might concentrate on more important tasks without emails or notifications. The important thing is to control technology since it becomes abusive when it starts controlling us. Thus, if email overload is causing concern, it is time to implement some version of detox. There is life beyond the Internet. Like restful Internet-free Sundays, it can be done.

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John Horvat II is a scholar, researcher, educator, international speaker, and author of the book Return to Order, as well as the author of hundreds of published essays. He lives in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, where he is the vice president of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property.

4 Comments

Two years ago, I came to the same conclusion regarding an Internet Sabbath rest. Of course, being weak-willed, I have succumbed a few times since.

But, imagine, if everyone purged their psyche of internet distractions, how it would affect the online magazines, like this one. In the case of those others pandering to outrage porn (you know who they are), it would be small loss.

Perhaps if we all could become more discerning and less reactive in daily usage? Or is that asking too much, being harder than mere pulling of the plug?

In fairness, I have seen similar calls on other websites, but always with the admonition one should stop wasting time on “other” websites (boycotting one’s own is never mentioned, not wishing to bite the feeding hand, as it were.).

Books, first always, computer?, fine, but secondary. TV, Ok for some sports. You can pick a book at your leisure and discover things absent from these others, among other reasons you have a better opportunity to learn. Books are still primary and enjoyable as well.

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